- April 24, 2024
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Don York, general manager of Palm Coast Ford, has hired 17 since April 2010.
In a time when most companies are scaling back, cutting employees and reducing expenses, Palm Coast Ford, at 1150 Palm Coast Parkway, has done the opposite. Since taking over the branch in April 2010, General Manager Don York has added 17 employees to the payroll.
He has also gotten heavily involved in community sponsorships — with the Education Foundation, local festivals, little leagues, the United Way, etc. — and sends out weekly mailers, including $5 or $10 local gift cards, to existing and potential customers.
“We felt it,” York said of the economic collapse. “We feel it now. The auto business is still nowhere near where it was.”
But the Ford brand is strong now regardless, he added. He credits the brand’s strength to the fact that the company denied federal bailout money in 2009.
“It helped Ford’s reputation with Americans,” he said. “America’s built on standing on your own two feet.”
On the other side of the coin, the Palm Coast dealership remains well away from its sales production of the boom years of 2006 to 2008. Then, it sold an average of about 190 to 200 cars per month. Today, it sells about 90 to 110.
But York hasn’t let that paralyze him.
“You’ve got to be willing to take some risks, and employ some people in key positions,” he said.
In the branch’s peak, it employed about 20 salespeople, but when York came on board, it was down to six, with 41 total employees. Since his takeover, he has brought the team up to 10 salesmen, not including management; the service department has almost doubled; and total employees are up to 58, making his dealership the largest in Flagler.
It’s all part of York’s “spend money to make money” philosophy, which partners with his community-involvement initiatives.
“A lot of people don’t realize how much these sponsorships (mean),” he said. “But (they’re) necessary.”
Necessary, and part of the company’s community “brick-laying.” Build your brand. Do the right thing. Stand out. Over time, York believes, the consistency will pay off.
“It’s not about money, it’s about fairness. It’s about community involvement,” he said. “It takes a lifetime to build a reputation, and it takes a couple seconds to ruin it.”
Every day, York says he eats a little bit of cost to make a customer happy, and to keep them coming back.
“Usually, people don’t spread the good word,” he said. “They spread the bad word.” So he goes out of his way to ensure that there’s no bad to spread.
“If I have to lose a little to gain a customer, I’m OK,” he said.
For the future, York is looking to expand on current practices. That means hiring another three or four salespeople in the next five or six months.
If all goes according to plan, he sees his branch back up to 150 cars sold per month by March. Call 447-3380.
Contact Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
